IRAQ

Through August 2017, NYC Medics teams were the ground in Mosul, Iraq, to save lives among civilians injured in the ongoing battle between U.S.-backed coalition forces and ISIS to regain control of the city. Director of Global Programs, Kathy Bequary, says more than 10 percent of the trauma casualties being reported in the city amid the fighting between ISIS and U.S.-led forces are children under the age of 15. “Setting up and operating a crisis care facility, what we call a Trauma Stabilization Point—and doing it just behind the front lines—will have a life-saving impact during this time on thousands of people caught in the fighting to retake Mosul from ISIS,” Bequary says. “We cannot stand by while people die because the appropriate medical care is not available.” The Iraq mission represents NYC Medics’ first deployment to a war zone, in response to a November 2016 request by the World Health Organization for humanitarian assistance in the area to reduce casualties on the front lines.

“We are only one of a handful of teams who have accepted the challenge,” – Bequary says.